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Religion (Frustengrad)
The gods of Valen are as varied as they are numerous. They are powerful, and expansive, though many of them choose to not take an active role in the lives of mortals, instead choosing to work through their servants and agents. With the many different cultures of Frustengrad, each contains its own pantheon which has stories of coming together to unite great heroes, and in times waging war against one another to create great destruction. The Five Divines, the Children of the Old Gods, is the prime religion of Valen and has taken a seat of power in the capital of Valen, the City of Vatica. The Gods of the Deep watch over the Dwarves in the Three Ranges, each of the seven gods ruling over some aspect of Dwarven culture. The Thanic Gods were made, according to legend, by Death on the banks of the Garel river and watch over the Gloran culture. Each pantheon has their own chosen for enacting their will on the world, and with the various gods so connected to arcane magic, some have even claimed different professions of spellcasters as their servants, such as the Trickster who is the Patron of Thieves and Storytellers. Worship For the most part, across Valen and Frustengrad at large, the common folk do not worship specific gods instead worshiping the entire pantheon. Some households choose a patron god or saint for their families that they decide to worship specifically to guide their day-to-day lives. Others of professions that a god specifically watches over choose to have patron gods as well. Temples and Places of Worship Five Divines Most temples and houses of worship for the Five Divines are devoted to individual gods, each temple acting as a conduit for the clerics and agents of that Divine to commune with the will of their god. Small shrines are peppered throughout Vanatia and the Middle Kingdom to the Divines, and for the most part, they exist in cohabitation with shrines and temples to other gods. The City of Vatica is considered a Holy City for the Divines and acts as a city for sacred pilgrimage for the especially devout, though the citizens of the city itself, for the most part, see it as just another city. Thanic Gods The Pantheon of the Thanic Gods chooses to show their worship through small temples and houses that contain a single altar to the gods that bares their symbols in complex iconography across it. Thanic tradition dictates that worship is passed through oral tradition and most temples are more for complex rituals and ceremonies that require large amounts of followers in a single place. Gods of the Deep Priests and Clerics Priests of the various churches and their acolytes are expected to be at least familiar with the honors, stories, and rituals of each of the gods, though they may focus on specific gods as their patrons. Clerics and Paladins are also expected to be familiar with the pantheon as a whole, but their focus on a specific deity for their devotion grants them unique favors. Clerics may also be called to act in opposition to some plan of their god’s rival deities. Occasionally a god will reach out to a specific person directly, offering them guidance or power if they sense something special about the person, or sending them on a quest to aid in the god’s aims. Typically these are their clerics, but they can also reach out to adventurers and heroes. Gods Though it has remained mostly consistent for the past century or so, the Gods of Frustengrad are not strangers to new members of their number. The oldest Gods, such as the Hollow, are not generally known to the people of Frustengrad as a whole but are very aware of the fact that they carry significantly more weight on the material plane than their more well known and influential peers such as the Five Divines or even the Thanic Gods to a lesser degree. The many gods of Frustengrad can be separated into three tiers, and from those separated into their various pantheons. Those pantheons are usually distributed amongst cultures in Frustengrad based on proximity to where the religion originated and the cumulative power of various gods in any region. In general, the gods choose not to take an active role in the workings of the material world, instead choosing to employ Paladins, Clerics, and Saints to be an active manifestation of their will in the world. Certain Gods, using a portion of their power, can even elevate the souls of fallen heroes to Seraphim in their employ which have an even greater influence on mortals. Old Gods A small pantheon of gods exists that are not worshipped by any in Frustengrad. These are said to have been the children of the Creator Gods, and their existence is a secret to all but the most academic of spiritualists. Their purvue is more natural elements of the material plane than the daily powers of the newer gods. 'Timerius Rex' :The Son of Faith, The Oldest God :Lawful Evil :Ambition, Forge, Knowledge, War :Portfolio: Fate, Sons, Children, Faith :Temples: There are no Temples to Timerius as his existence has been forgotten by all mortals, and is only remembered by a few ancient Elves. According to ancient texts, Timerius Rex was the first god fashioned by the Creator Gods. He was a wise and just god, and acted as the shepherd of the people, bringing the good souls to Elysium and the banishing evils to the Hells. He acted as a great hero in the First Era, a champion of Man and their protector until the Great Flood. But all records of him are lost during the Second Era. His existence was all but forgotten until the Bloodstone war, when a young elf who was beset on by a dwarven contingent called out in fear to the god of Children and a man appeared "glowing with divine radiance beneath the noon sun" ''and smote the dwarves where they stood, ushering the child back to safety. The child then said that the man began walking east, announcing that his charges were in need of him as he strode away. '''Nixia Twain' :The Daughter of Madness, The Child Empress of Death, Mother of Darkness :Neutral Evil :Death, Grave, Nature, Tempest :Portfolio: Monsters, Treachery, Slavery, Murder, Madness :Temples: '''There are no official temples or shrines to Nixia Twain, but deep in the darkest forests of the Fel and the mundane wood, monsters can be found to have erected altars of bone and meat dedicated to her. The Urok Pantheon worships a goddess of meat and death who scholars believe could be the remnants of Nixia Twain. Nixia Twain was begotten when the Creator Gods fell, rising from their ashes as a bastard of what they were. She ran her fingers across the Black and through the Fel and sired her children as she walked. She is said to be the true Mother of Darkness and worshiped only in the most pitched places beneath the ground. It is also said that Nixia Twain is not a creature of malevolence, but a broken goddess who thrives on the constant tilting of the natural order. She is as likely to grant a boon to those that worship her as she is to break their minds and feed on them. '''Hollow :Guardian of the Lake, The One Who Holds the Door, Mistress of the Veil :Neutral :Death, Grave, Order, Protection :Portfolio: Shamans, Heroes, Elysium, the Veil :Temples: '''Before the creation of the Thanic Gods, the Gloran and the Paagese worshipped the Hollow, but since those days the worship has fallen and though her altars remain on the banks of Garel Lake, they are not kept. '''Child :Last Sight, Laughing One, Terror of the Black :Chaotic Evil :Arcana, Knowledge, Life, Light :Portfolio: None :'''Temples: '''The Child has no temples, except those that she creates by decorating with the creatures she consumes. New Gods The New Gods of Frustengrad range from the millennium long reign of the Gods of the Deep to the more recent rise of the Gloran Divinities. Great Evils